Inarritu said: "Cannes is a festival that has been important to me since the beginning of my career.

"I am humbled and thrilled to return this year with the immense honour of presiding over the jury.

"Cinema runs through the veins of the planet, and this festival has been its heart."

Festival president Pierre Lescure and artistic director Thierry Fremau praised Inarritu as "not only a daring film-maker and a director who is full of surprises" but also "a man of conviction, an artist of his time".